Description

The F4U-4 Corsair is a Rank III American naval fighter
with a battle rating of 5.3 (AB) and 5.0 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.71 "New E.R.A".

The F4U-4 is excellent at Boom & Zoom fighting. Its high energy-retention and acceleration make it the true pinnacle of the Corsairs. Although you don't get an air spawn, the climb rate of the F4U-4 makes up for that. When engaging an enemy, you should try and maintain an altitude advantage while keeping your speed up; speed is life, altitude is life insurance. Once you have attained an altitude advantage, you will want to roll then dive because the R-2800 P&W Double Wasp doesn't have fuel injection so if you bunt over into a dive you will most likely lose power momentarily. The six .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns, while not as destructive as let's say four 20 mm cannons or the eight .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns on the P-47, they will destroy any lighter aircraft with ease.

Usage in battles

Being true for the entire Corsair series the most distinctive features of this plane is its huge R-2800-P&W 18 Cylinder Radial engine and its inverted gull wing.

One Advantage of the Inverted gull wing;

The Wing is impossible to rip in a dive as long as you don't pull a turn greater than 25 G's, which is almost impossible because the aircraft does suffer from compression above 800 kph.

One disadvantage of the aircraft is its high-speed dive characteristics;

During the dive the aircraft tends to yaw severely to the right making you roll, possibly making the shot you need miss.

The worst enemies for the F4U are the Ki-84, N1K1, A7M's, and some late mark Zeros. Their extreme turning ability would make any of the F4U-4's attempt at turn fighting worthless. In the worst case scenario when these aircraft managed to get an energy advantage over the F4U-4, escape from the encounter with a dive and try to lose the aircraft through the assistance of allied anti-air fire from friendlies or the airfield.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements

Mixer

Pitch

Radiator

Supercharger

Turbocharger

Oil

Water

Type

Controllable

Not controllable

Not controllable

Not controllable

Separate

Controllable

Not controllable

Modules

Tier

Flight performance

Survivability

Weaponry

I

Fuselage Repair

Radiator

Offensive 12 mm

FMBC mk.1

II

Compressor

Airframe

III

Wings Repair

Engine

New 12 mm MGs

FLBC mk.1

IV

G-Suit

Engine Injection

Cover

FRC mk.2

Pros and cons

Pros:

Fast

Respectable armament of six .50 Cal machine guns

Powerful engine, which allows for excellent energy retention

Decent secondary weapons for destroying ground targets

Cons

Engine prone to overheating after prolonged usage of WEP (RB)

Turn-fighting heavy aircraft at low speeds is not advised

History

The F4U-4 was based on the -1A Corsair. In order to improve and modernize the Corsair, so it would be able to fight the new Japanese planes in the Pacific, a number of changes were made. One of the major changes was the engine. The Pratt and Whitney R-2800-8W engine was replaced by the more powerful R-2800-18W engine. This -18W engine boosted the speed of the Corsair by up to 46.3 kph (25 kn, 28.76 mph). When injected with an alcohol/water mixture, the performance could be boosted even further. In order for the propeller to be able to handle the more powerful engine, the propeller had to be changed from 3 blades to 4 blades. Modifications to the fuselage were required, including the addition of a scoop to the lower engine cowling. In addition, the cockpit was completely redesigned.

The armament of the -4 corsair was six .50 in machine guns, up to 4,000 lbs of bombs and/or eight 5 in rockets. There were multiple variants of the F4U-4. There was the F4U-4B, which had only slight modifications for the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. They were never actually delivered to the Royal Navy, as the US kept them instead.The F4U-4C was another variant, which had four 20 mm cannons instead of six .50 in machine guns. There were also two night fighter variants, the F4U-4E and the F4U-4N. The -4E had an APS-4 search radar on the starboard wing tip, while the -4N had an APS-6 search radar instead. Both night fighter versions replaced the six .50 in machine guns with four 20 mm cannons. There was also F4U-4K, an experimental drone variant, and the F4U-4P, a photo reconnaissance variant.

Media

The Shooting Range #122 - Pages of History section at 03:50 discusses the fate of the F4U Corsair after WW2.